Alliance for Heart Failure CALLS ON NHS TO DELIVER ambitious Parliamentary Inquiry report

Experts say heart failure services have room for improvement

Tuesday 13th September 2016

The Alliance for Heart Failure (AHF) has called for immediate action from NHS England to draw up and implement a viable timetable to deliver the recommendations of the ‘Living with Heart Failure’ report, published today by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Heart Disease (APPG), chaired by Stuart Andrew MP.

Professor Andrew Clark, co-chair of the AHF, was a member of the Advisory Panel for the Living with Heart Failure Inquiry, along with other expert representatives from key organisations and related areas.  He said:

“The report’s recommendations are ambitious. But every single one is deliverable within a relatively short timeframe. The advice and evidence provided to the Inquiry by world-leading specialists and professionals give both context and momentum to these recommendations, and there is no credible reason why the NHS could not – or should not – begin implementing them today and start to save lives straight away.

“The Alliance for Heart Failure is calling on NHS England, Health Education England, Clinical Commissioning Groups, and NHS Improvement to work together and adopt all the report’s recommendations. NHS England should report on the results of this action a year from now.”

The AHF’s mission is to achieve better outcomes for patients by ensuring that those affected with heart failure are diagnosed in time and have access to the right care, services and support where they live.  The AHF welcomes this timely report and its broad range of cost-effective and practical recommendations that can improve diagnosis, treatment and care for heart failure patients across the country, and deliver a consistent health service to people wherever they are in the UK.

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Notes to editors

About Heart Failure

Heart failure is debilitating and life threatening. Outcomes are poor: five year survival rate for heart failure is worse than breast or prostate cancer.[1] Heart failure represents a major and growing cost to the NHS and wider society. It is a leading cause of hospital admission in over 65s[2] and is one of the five long-term conditions responsible for 75% of unplanned hospital admissions.[3]

About the Alliance for Heart Failure

The Alliance for Heart Failure (AHF) is a coalition of charities, patient groups, professional bodies and healthcare companies for the purpose of raising the profile of heart failure in Government, the NHS and the media. Its mission is to achieve better outcomes for people with heart failure by ensuring every person with heart failure is diagnosed on time and has access to the right care and support.

The AHF is supported and funded by Abbott Laboratories, Medtronic Limited, Novartis Pharmaceuticals UK Ltd, and Roche Diagnostics Ltd.  The AHF was established in September 2015; the inaugural meeting was initiated by Novartis Pharmaceuticals UK Ltd with funding provided by Novartis Pharmaceuticals UK Ltd, and Medtronic Limited.

AHF member organisations

Abbott Laboratories; British Association for Nursing in Cardiovascular Care; British Society for Echocardiography; British Society for Heart Failure; Cardiomyopathy UK; Cardiovascular Care Partnerships; Kent Surrey Sussex Academic Health Science Network; Medtronic UK; National Heart & Lung Institute; Novartis Pharmaceuticals UK Ltd; Pumping Marvellous Foundation; Roche Diagnostics Ltd; South East Strategic Clinical Network

Members represent charities, patient groups, professional bodies and corporate members with an interest in heart failure. Membership is also open to charities and public sector organisations.

Co-Chairs (12 month tenure)

Angela Graves (Pumping Marvellous Foundation)

Professor Andrew Clark (British Society for Heart Failure)

Media enquiries:

Colin Hallmark / Rod de St Croix, 3:nine

Tel: 0207 736 1888  Email: ahf@3nine.co.uk

[1] Askoxylakis, V. et al. Long-term survival of cancer patients compared to heart failure and stroke: A systematic review. BMC Cancer. 2010. 10:105. Available at: https://bmccancer.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2407-10-105 [Accessed July 2016]

[2] NICE. Acute heart failure: diagnosing and managing acute heart failure in adults. October 2014. Available at: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg187 [Accessed July 2016]

[3] NHS England. Emergency admissions for Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions – characteristics and trends at national level. March 2014. Available at: https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/red-acsc-em-admissions-2.pdf [Accessed July 2016]